1. THE RIPE ORGANISATION.
RIPE is, as stated in its Terms of Reference, an administrative and
technical coordinating body devoted to a pan-European IP network.
Any organisation is free to become a Member of RIPE signing the RIPE
Statement of Coordination.
All network services are provided by the single Member organisations
and coordination is performed voluntarily on a best effort basis.
2. THE RIPE INTERNETWORK. (MONET, Member Organisations NETwork)
(NOnet, Network Organisatons network)
(WISERnet, Wide Area IP Service Network)
(RIPEnet, Resaux IP Europeen network)
(ROSEnet, RIPE Open System Environment network)
(NOWnet, Networking Organisations Widearea network).
....
The RIPE internetwork is the collection of connected networks which
have access to one or more RIPE connection points. RIPE interconnections
are made over a set of links owned by Member organisations under
bilateral or multilateral agreements between these Member organisations.
3. RIPE CONNECTED NETWORKS.
A RIPE connected network is defined as a network, belonging to a
RIPE Member organisation, having an officially assigned IP
network number. By its routing and topological structure this network
shall have access to all other RIPE connected networks. A RIPE
database is maintained containing information on all RIPE connected
networks. It is necessary for a network to have an entry in this
database to be considered as having RIPE connected status.
4. RIPE CONNECTION SITE.
A RIPE connection site is the point where networks belonging to one
or more Member organisations are connected to the RIPE Internetwork.
A RIPE connection site must provide necessary management functions
to maintain connectivity between RIPE connected networks.
5. RIPE ADMINSTRATIVE SITE.
Every RIPE Member organisation shall provide a RIPE administrative
site. The purpose of an administrative site is to manage databases and
information relevant for the RIPE organisation concerning
RIPE connected local networks within the Member organisation.
6. RIPE CONNECTION SITE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
A RIPE connection site must perform some duties
in order to obtain a comprehensive high level of reliable service.
6.1 The running of a network devices connected to the RIPE Internetwork in
accordance with RIPE networking policies as decided to at RIPE operational
meetings and documented in the minutes from these meetings. This means
maintaining connectivity with all other RIPE connected network devices and
maintaining connectivity with all other RIPE connected networks.
Only RIPE connected networks shall be announced to the RIPE Internetwork.
Networks not having RIPE connected status should be blocked at the
connection site.
6.2 Routing tables should be managed at each connection site according
to a routing policy decided on within the RIPE organisation.
A set of default routes should be agreed among the Member organisations
in order to reach networks outside RIPE.
6.3 To be able to measure performance, traffic intensites,
congestion situations and other measurements
juged necessary in the maintanance of the RIPE Internetwork,
a connection site is encouraged to cooperate with the RIPE
organisation to fulfill these intentions.
7. RIPE ADMINISTRATIVE SITE FUNCTIONS
Each RIPE Member organisation shall provide a RIPE Administrative Site
in order to maintain databases and information relevant to the RIPE
Internetwork and the RIPE organisation.
7.1 A RIPE database is maintained, in a distributed way, using a common set
of tools which are available to every RIPE Member. The database contains
information on all RIPE connected networks. It is of importance that RIPE
Adminstrative Sites maintain their share of the RIPE network database by
adding or deleting networks to this database as necessary. Only networks
with an entry in the RIPE database could be considered to have RIPE
connected status.
7.2 An Administrative Site is supposed to act as a representative for RIPE
connected local networks belonging to its Member organisation,
bringing up questions of general interest from these networks to the
RIPE organisation and also be an entry point for the RIPE organisation
for informational issues.
7.3 An Administrative Site is supposed to field operational
issues and act as an entry point for user interests and is encouraged
to relay operational information between local networks and the RIPE
organisation. This is done using two kinds of mailing lists,
locally maintained.
The ripe-ops mailing list:
Operational topics which are of interest in the management of the
network such as routing and topological issues, link problems and
similar subjects should be transmitted to the ripe-ops mailing list.
This mailing list is locally expanded at every Administrative Site
to the local staff responsible for a RIPE connection device and
other relevant recipients within the corresponding Member organisation.
The ripe-inf mailing list:
Informational topics of general interest should be transmitted to the
ripe-inf mailing list. This list is intended for a wider audience and is
locally expanded at every connection site to any person or sublist that
wishes to be a member of that list.
8. MANAGEMENT FUNCTION FOR LOCAL NETWORKS CONNECTED TO THE RIPE INTERNETWORK.
To keep connectivity with the RIPE Internetwork a local network manager
has to monitor this and assure that the connectivity is not lost, or if
lost reestablish the connectivty without unneccasary time delays. Another
responsibility is to enforce acceptable use of the network not to
disturb the traffic on the RIPE Internetwork or other RIPE connected
local networks.
Since the RIPE database contains important operational information (for
instance, the list of people to contact in case of operational
problems), it is of utmost importance that this information be accurate
and up to date. It is thus necessary that the person responsible for a
RIPE connected network notifies the corresponding Adminstrative Site
of any changes in the database entry pertaining to his network.
When necessary the network managers shall put operational questions
to the relevant RIPE connection site to which the network is connected
and field operational questions from users on the local connected network.
9. RIPE OPERTATIONAL MEETINGS.
To be able to influence decisions concerning the RIPE
Internetwork and its maintance and being informed of
current situations witin RIPE, Member organisations
are encouraged to participate in the RIPE operational meetings.